81% (3) The Man Who Knew Too Much 120 min, PG, [Drama, Thriller] [Alfred Hitchcock] [01 Jun 1956]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, Metacritic: 78%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.
Actors: Bernard Miles, Brenda de Banzie, Doris Day, James Stewart
Writer: John Michael Hayes (screenplay), Charles Bennett (based on a story by), D.B. Wyndham-Lewis (based on a story by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Arabic, French Country: USA
Plot: While attending a medical conference in Paris, American physician Dr. Ben McKenna, his wife, retired musical theater actress and singer Jo McKenna née Conway, and their adolescent son Hank McKenna decide to take a side trip to among other places Marrekesh, French Morocco. With a knife plunged into his back, Frenchman Louis Bernard, who the family met earlier in their bus ride into Marrakesh and who is now masquerading as an Arab, approaches Ben, cryptically whispering into Ben's ears that there will be an attempted assassination in London of a statesman, this news whispered just before Bernard dies. Ben is reluctant to provide any information of this news to the authorities because concurrently Hank is kidnapped by British couple, Edward and Lucy Drayton, who also befriended the McKennas in Marrakesh and who probably have taken Hank out of the country back to England. Whoever the unknown people the Draytons are working for have threatened to kill Hank if Ben divulges any information told to him by Bernard. With what little information they have on hand, Ben and Jo head to London to try and thwart the assassination attempt and more importantly find an alive and safe Hank. Scotland Yard is aware of some pieces to the puzzle, including the fact that Bernard was a French secret service agent and that there will be an assassination attempt on someone. They and the McKennas will have to work together as they hit a diplomatic roadblock, one that may be overcome with a special Jo Conway song.
Rotten Tomatoes: The debate still rages as to whether Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much is superior to his own original 1934 version. This two-hour remake (45 minutes longer than the first film) features more stars, a lusher budget, and the plaintive music of Bernard Herrmann (who appears on-camera, typecast as a symphony conductor). Though the locale of the opening scenes shifts from Switzerland to French Morocco in the newer version, the basic plot remains the same. American tourists James Stewart and Doris Day are witness to the street killing of a Frenchman (Daniel Gelin) they've recently befriended. Before breathing his last, the murder victim whispers a secret to Stewart (the Cinemascope lens turns this standard closeup into a truly grotesque vignette). Stewart knows that a political assassination will occur during a concert at London's Albert Hall, but is unable to tell the police: his son (a daughter in the original) has been kidnapped by foreign agents to insure Stewart's silence. The original script for Man Who Knew too Much was expanded and updated by John Michael Hayes and Angus McPhail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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83% (2) In Which We Serve 115 min, Not Rated, [Drama, War] [Noël Coward, David Lean] [23 Dec 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 73%, Rotten Tomatoes: 94%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors: Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Noël Coward
Writer: Noël Coward (by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: This is the story of a British Naval ship, HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship's first and only commanding officer is the experienced Captain E.V. Kinross who trains his men not only to be loyal to him but to the country and most importantly, to themselves. They face challenges at sea and also at home. They lose some of their shipmates in action and some of their loved ones in the devastation that is the blitz. Throughout it all, the men of the Torrin serve valiantly and heroically.
Rotten Tomatoes: Few morale-boosting wartime films have retained their power and entertainment value as emphatically as Noël Coward's In Which We Serve. To witness Coward's sober, no-nonsense direction (in collaboration with his co-director/editor, David Lean) and to watch his straightforward portrayal of navy captain Kinross, one would never suspect that he'd built his theatrical reputation upon sophisticated drawing-room comedies and brittle, witty song lyrics. The real star of In Which We Serve is the British destroyer Torrin. Torpedoed in battle, the Torrin miraculously survives, and is brought back to English shores to be repaired. The paint is barely dry and the nuts and bolts barely in place before the Torrin is pressed into duty during the Dunkirk evacuation. The noble vessel is finally sunk after being dive-bombed in Crete, but many of the crew members survive. As they cling to the wreckage awaiting rescue, Coward and his men flash back to their homes and loved ones, and, in so doing, recall anew just why they're fighting and for whom they're fighting. Next to Coward, the single most important of the film's characters is Shorty Blake, played by John Mills. (Trivia note: Mills' infant daughter Juliet Mills appears as Shorty's baby.) Even so, the emphasis in the film is on teamwork; here as elsewhere, there can be no stars in wartime. For many years, the only prints available to television were from the bowdlerized American version, which crudely cut out all "hells" and "damns." Fortunately, this eviscerated American release has since been shelved in favor of the full, glorious 115-minute version.
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71% (1) One of Our Aircraft Is Missing 82 min, Not Rated, [Action, Adventure, Drama, War] [Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger] [27 Jun 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins.
Actors: Bernard Miles, Eric Portman, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Williams
Writer: Emeric Pressburger (by), Michael Powell (written by: for The Archers), Emeric Pressburger (written by: for The Archers)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Dutch, German, Latin, French Country: UK
Plot: During the Allied Bombing offensive of World War II the public was often informed that "A raid took place last night over ..., One (or often more) of Our Aircraft Is Missing". Behind these sombre words hid tales of death, destruction and derring-do. This is the story of one such bomber crew who were shot down and the brave Dutch patriots who helped them home.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this British war drama, six British bomber crewmen are obliged to bail out over Holland. To escape detection from the Nazis, the crewmen accept the hospitality of a several Hollanders, all dedicated to the freedom-fighting activities of the Underground.
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68% (1) Fame Is the Spur 96 min, PASSED, [Drama] [Roy Boulting] [30 Nov 1949]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, External Reviews
Actors: Bernard Miles, Brian Weske, Carla Lehmann, Gerald Fox, Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Tony Wager
Writer: Howard Spring (novel), Nigel Balchin (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: Hamer Radshaw rises from a Manchester slum to an important post in the British Cabinet but, along the way, his strong socialist beliefs undergo modifications to the extent that, while maintaining them in principle, he diametrically opposes them in practice. His 'spur' for prosperity and social status causes him to sacrifice his ideals and friends, including allowing his wife, a fighter for women's rights, to be jailed.
Rotten Tomatoes: When a young man from an economically depressed area of England (played by Michael Redgrave) decides that his calling is to help the beleaguered workers in his area, he takes as his symbol a sword passed down to him by an ancestor who picked it up at the Battle of Peterloo in 1819, where it had been used against workers. Beginning as an idealistic defender of the oppressed workers, he rises to power in the Parliament, where he discovers that power corrupts and he becomes the very type of politician he had originally set out to displace. Sometimes slow-moving, this is an interesting look into the reasons why the Labor and the Conservative factions are at loggerheads with each other in Great Britain. Very loosely based on labor leader Ramsay MacDonald's climb to power, the story was adapted by Howard Spring and is a combination of both fact and fiction. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi
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67% (1) Tunisian Victory 75 min, [Documentary, War] [Frank Capra, Hugh Stewart, John Huston] [01 Apr 1944]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win.
Actors: Bernard Miles, Burgess Meredith, Jacques Duchesne, Leo Genn
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA, UK
Plot: The Archive of World War Two is a series of original archive documentaries filmed under actual battle conditions by service and newsreel cameramen attached to American, British, French, Russian and enemy forces. NTSC - Black & White - 74 minutes
Rotten Tomatoes: Documentary made by the U.S. Army Signal Corps that contained footage from American and British governmental agencies, American newsreels, captured enemy film and newsreels, the Canadian National Film Board and more.
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55% (1) The Big Blockade 73 min, Approved, [Drama, War] [Charles Frend] [19 Jan 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 55%, External Reviews
Actors: Bernard Miles, David Evans, John Stuart, Will Hay
Writer: Angus MacPhail (screen play), Frank Owen (commentary)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.
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